Food and beverage company RFM Corporation disclosed yesterday that it achieved net income of P320.8 million for the first five months of the year, or more than seven times the net income for the same period last year.

In the course of its annual stockholders meeting held yesterday, RFM President and CEO Jose A. Concepcion III said that this income growth momentum should bring us to about P400 million by the first half of 2010, well on the way to surpassing our original P500 million target for the full year.

The company reported on its audited financial statements for 2009, showing net income of P365 million, a healthy 49% increase from the 2008 figure, on the back of sales of over P8.3 billion for the year.

Concepcion attributed the current year?s performance to robust sales results brought about by several product innovations, backed by more aggressive marketing campaigns for almost all the brands under RFM.From last year, the company has increased by 50% its investments in marketing to further build brand equity.Revenue growth, coupled with better-managed cost structures and operating efficiencies, have pushed up operating margins this year. We believe we have now arrived at a sustainable business model that will propel RFM to its next level of growth", Concepcion said.

"For instance, our Selecta ice cream, which is a joint venture with Unilever, posted a remarkable performance of over 50% sales growth, even over 100% growth in some product segments, for the first half of the year. This is quite unprecedented for a brand that is already the dominant market leader in ice cream at 59% market share. Selecta will become an increasingly important contributor to the top-line and bottom-line numbers of RFM," according to Concepcion.

He also cited the significant market inroads being made by another RFM product, Fiesta spaghetti, which has become the No. 1 spaghetti brand in the country, on the strength of its value-for-money proposition to consumers.Concepcion also credited the major improvements achieved in the operating performance of its Selecta milk and Swift meat groups.

In the same stockholders meeting, he disclosed that the RFM Board also adopted formally a regular cash dividend policy allotting 30% of its recurring net income beginning 2010 for annual distribution to its shareholders.

"While RFM has given cash dividends in recent years, such as the P50 million declared for each of this year and last year, we wanted to send a clearer signal to our shareholders and investors that will allow them to evaluate better their investment returns," Concepcion said.

Concepcion added that "we intend to be consistent in meeting our performance targets, and giving a fair return to our shareholders and investors."